The hunch-backed, crooked, wicked, murderous and machiavellian Duke of Gloucester, better known - once he’s ascended the throne, of course - as Richard III, is among the most evil and ruthless of all theatre villains.

Shakespeare’s brutal play follows Gloucester’s blood-soaked trail as he uses all his skills as a lover, a liar, a tyrant and a trickster to seize power and become the King of England.

This brand-new Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) version of one of the bard’s most famous and best-loved histories sees Arthur Hughes playing the crippled king. Hughes himself is disabled. The actor - who identifies as ‘limb different’ - was born with a condition known as radial dysplasia, which affects one in 30,000 people. He has no thumb or radius bone on his right arm, and his right wrist is disfigured.

Much has been made of the RSC casting a disabled actor in the role of Shakespeare’s infamous king. While the decision to do so is undoubtedly a good-news story, what comes to matter most is Hughes’ exceptional performance as the ‘foul bunchback’d toad’ of the title. Having already provided a taste of the evil to come, in the Company’s springtime production of Wars Of The Roses (Henry VI Part Three), the 30-year-old actor here cleans up as ‘misshapen Dick’, planning, plotting and perpetrating to excellent effect. In so doing, he ensures that all of the play’s nastiest and most memorable moments are superbly delivered to the audience, fully formed and hardwired to horrify. 

Just as impressively, he does it all while simultaneously milking no small amount of humour from the role.

So emphatically does the shadow of the ‘bottled spider’ loom over the whole of the play that making a serious impact as any character other than Gloucester can be a pretty challenging task for an actor. Thankfully it’s one which the supporting cast wholeheartedly embrace and magnificently negotiate. Their talent, diligence and commitment to the cause creates a perfect backdrop against which Richard’s unbridled ambition and attendant wickedness is writ large in the blood of his hapless victims.

The Company’s outgoing artistic director, Gregory Doran, is the man at the helm of this stylish summertime spectacle, deftly steering the production in a direction which allows it not only to resonate with audiences who previously enjoyed Wars Of The Roses, but also to find an identity all of its own. The climax of a history cycle it may be, but that doesn’t stop it standing confidently on its own two feet as well. By the time the action reaches Bosworth Field, we’re more than ready for the intensely evil Richard to receive the comeuppance he so richly deserves.

This powerfully compelling, thoroughly absorbing and brilliantly realised production runs at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until Sat 8 October. Be sure to get yourself a ticket - you won’t be disappointed

Five stars

Reviewed by Alex Dyke on Thursday 30 June.